Corruption not limited to construction: Duchesneau

The former head of the province's anti-corruption squad is warning that the insidious problem isn't limited to Quebec's construction industry.

At a conference held by Montreal opposition party Vision Montreal Saturday, newly elected CAQ MNA JacquesDuchesneau said corruption at all levels of government is more widespread.

Vision Montreal leader Louise Harel said the public’s confidence in the system has been shaken by repeated allegations of corruption in government, both at the provincial and municipal level, that have come out as a product of the Charbonneau Commission into corruption in the construction industry.

Harel said that confidence must be restored and called for Mayor Gerald Tremblay to resign.

“It is time to reestablish and rebuild confidence,” said Harel.

The call for his resignation comes after allegations that his party was receiving kickbacks from questionable construction contracts.

Saturday, Duchesneau said the corruption problem is worse than the allegations heard at the commission have suggested.

“The first thing we need to do is to have a better diagnostic of what is going on,” he said. “People think that collusion and corruption is only a construction problem. It is not. We need to go deep into analyzing what the problems are.”

Among his suggestions for restoring public confidence in the system:

limit governments to two mandates

review the financing of political parties and limits for electoral spending

offer better protection for whistle-blowers

Also on the panel was Liberal MNA and former police officer Guy Ouellette.